Diving with Scuba Dubai in
United Arab Emirates/Dubai in 2002/06:
an Instant Reader Report

 [Unspecified] 

Dive Conditions

Back on board with 500 psi  

Water is hot in the Persian Gulf, and makes for murky conditions in the
summer.  

Overall Rating

Thursday and Friday are the weekend here. Scuba Dubai is located at the
Meridian Hotel.  Like most dive shops in the
region, Scuba Dubai has a couple of 28-foot boats with bimini tops. We
dove the SMB Barge wreck.

The SMB is a barge of over 150 feet in length, which sank 2 miles offshore
of Dubai. The vessel is upside down
on the bottom, with a gaping hole in the port side, and several other
holes have appeared as the craft decays in
the highly saline environment. The barge is broken in the center, and one
can penetrate all the way through the
boat here, as well as make limited penetrations in several other
locations. There are crab traps, and fishing line,
as well as ropes and lines left over from her working days all around the
wreck, so one has to be mindful. The water 
is quite salty due to the incredible heat and evaporation. 

We descended down the line right into the hole in the barge's hull. All
around us swarmed a huge school of
snapper. We kept going down to the sand, turned to our right, and headed
for the stern.  Most of the fish either 
were a totally different hue, or were altogether different species than
one sees in the Caribbean. The water is quite 
warm, and rich in plankton, cutting visibility somewhat.   Approaching the
stern, we found the first of several crab 
traps scattered around the wreck.  We had to do quite a bit of rehydrating
on our surface interval.  The weather report 
for Dubai that day indicated  122 f. Several of us decided to do our
surface interval in the water, where it was 90 degrees.  

Second dive was to the stern, and swimming through the wreck. The stern of
the barge is smashed as well, and we came 
up through the wreckage on her starboard quarter, and ascended to the
bottom of the hull, looking into the many holes being 
eaten into the plates by the salty seawater. . We descended down into the
wreck, seeing daylight on the other side. There is 
a virtual tunnel through the center bulkhead area in this wreck, and is an
easy swim through. Down in the hold, we spotted a 
school of whitish goatfish, and more angels. 

Dive 1:  74ft  25 min
Dive 2:  77ft  26 min